Waller Creek Physical Landscape Facts:

1.    Waller Creek is located in central Travis County at 30’20N, 97’42 W in Austin

2.    Waller Creek drains into the Colorado River at Town Lake

3.    Waller Creek is 7 miles in length

4.    Waller Creek drainage area is 6 square miles

5.    Well known sites located on or near Waller Creek:

-         University of Texas at Austin

-         The Texas State Capitol

-         Austin Convention Center

-         Hyde Park Neighborhood

-         Austin State Hospital

-         St. David’s Medical Center

-         Reilly Elementary School

-         Seton Heart Center

-         Children’s Hospital of Austin

-         Waterloo Park

-         Elisabet Ney Museum                                                                    Waller Creek Watershed

Waller Creek Historical Facts

1. In April 1839 President Mirabeau B. Lamar ordered Edwin Waller and a company of workmen to the creek’s site chosen for the capital of the state of Texas to lay out the city and construct temporary quarters for government offices.
2. Waller Creek was named after Edwin Waller, Austin’s first mayor and signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence.
3. In 1871 the lower area of the creek began to be semi-industrialized after the establishment of Austin’s first railroad.
4. In 1883 the University of Texas at Austin was opened along Waller Creek.
5. Lyndon B. Johnson walked the Creek in 1938 and decried the “shanties” and “hot beds of crime”.
6. On October 22, 1969, the Waller Creek riot occurred which protested the destruction of trees and mutilation of the creek bed along San Jacinto Boulevard south of 21^st street, a consequence of plans for the enlargement of Memorial Stadium.

Waller Creek Environmental Facts

1. Waller Creek is considered a “gaining creek”, meaning that the flow increases downstream, a result of springs and seeps located along the length of the creek.
2. The nutrients problem increases downstream starting at the site of The University of Texas at Austin campus.
3. Today investigators find an average of 72 pollution problems each year in Waller Creek. One of the most common problems is sewage, followed by sediment and wastewater.

Waller Creek Historical Timeline

-         1836 The Texas Declaration of Independence was signed by members of the Convention

-         1839 The city of Austin constructional layout began, as the Texas Congress first met and selected the site for the Capital of the Republic

-         1871 Austin’s first railroad opened near Waller Creek

-         1883 The University of Texas at Austin opened near Waller Creek

-         1938 Lyndon B. Johnson walked and evaluated Waller Creek

-         1969 The Waller Creek riot occurred which protested the destruction of  trees and mutilation of the creek bed along San Jacinto Boulevard

-         1998 The Waller Creek Tunnel project was included in the November 1998 bond election

-         2003 Initiative voted on in the past to spend 3 million to improve Waller Creek (commercial development)

-         2006 The City of Austin adopted an Interim Single-Family Development ordinance to address the “McMansion” problem of building excessively large homes on small lots.

Links to History Resources

http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/WW/rbw11.html 

http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/watershed/waller_fs.htm 

http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/zoning/sf_regs.htm